The POC cardiology diagnostics market was worth over US$2 billion in 2011 and rose by 9% compared with 2010. This was driven by a growing interest in the adoption of POC technologies by both healthcare providers and patients at home, as well as the introduction of new products that enable POC testing for more applications, enhance ease-of-use and improve on current products.

POC testing can offer clear benefits over laboratory testing. As it is conducted in the presence of or near the patient, results are obtained quickly, enabling healthcare providers to act swiftly to emergencies such as heart attack and provide a diagnosis while the patient is still in the healthcare facility, speeding treatment and reducing visits to the doctor. For patients, self-testing helps users control their condition, reducing the chance of complications and improving health, while lowering the time and cost of treating complications, and the need for patients to regularly see their doctor.

Clinical acceptance remains an obstacle

This is a key issue. Healthcare providers need evidence that POC diagnostics provide lab-quality results and benefits in terms of clinical-usefulness, convenience and cost in order to adopt them. Unsurprisingly, concerns have been raised by laboratory professionals about the decentralisation of hospital testing and by doctors about patient and consumer self-testing. In both cases, there is concern that the use of POC products by less skilled users may result in inaccurate diagnoses, leading to resistance to the changes needed for POC products to be widely implemented. Overcoming these issues will be critical to the POC diagnostic sector if it is to realise its full potential – at present, adoption and usage rates vary widely, and there remains much untapped potential in the worldwide market.

Innovation is making an impact

There is currently much innovation in the market. Products that enable multi-parameter diagnostics using technologies such as microfluidics are a major focus, as are products for personalised medicine. For example, the first POC DNA analysis system, Spartan Bioscience's RX CYP2C19, has European approval to help identify patients with impaired metabolism to the popular anti-blood clotting medication, clopidogrel.

This new September 2012 report delivers a complete and insightful analysis

This new 130-page highly detailed report – Volume 1 of a 4-volume study of the whole IVD sector to be published this autumn/winter – provides executives with a complete understanding of the issues which are shaping the market and how they will affect its commercial development.

Get the best from your investment! Pdf or print formats and the brilliant Espicom Interactive included at no extra cost! Customers can choose print or pdf format but all get access via Espicom Interactive. Customers will really benefit from accessing this report's rich content through Espicom Interactive by... Accessing daily-reviewed company reports, updates and news Intuitively cross file searching and getting fast results Saving time and effort by extracting data with instant "one click" export to MS Excel™ and MS PowerPoint™Using the machine translation tool to translate text into 9 leading languages Easily building their own reports from all the content

Understand the trends which are shaping the sector's operation Identify which sectors offer the greatest growth potential over the next 5 years Highlight the emerging companies in the industry with novel technology Evaluate the competitive landscape and identify the companies to watch Know who's striking strategic and tactical partnerships Monitor M&A activity and the changing competitive landscape Identify the leading products

Focus on... Mergers & Acquisitions

M&A activity has increased significantly in recent years and this industry consolidation is changing the dynamics of the market, potentially to the detriment of smaller companies. In particular, Alere has reinforced its industry dominance with several key acquisitions in the past five years, including HemoSense, Cholestech and Biosite. In 2011, it acquired Axis-Shield, a company with POC sales of nearly £50 million in 2010, and Medical Automation Systems, the market leader in POC IT connectivity solutions.